Projectory!

The drum roll had migrated to white noise in the background over the past month.
Fortunately, I am naive and persistent! The crazy volume of phone calls and emails in pursuit of a permission slip have paid off, and I’m glad to broadcast that as of last week, Deschutes County has approved my land use application. There (of course) is a mandatory, 12-day waiting period where folks can file appeals or concerns, but since we’ve already gone through this rigmarole, I feel pretty confident that when Tuesday, September 20th arrives, I’ll be confirming the ground breaking ceremony with Mike Bentz of Myco Excavation to get things going. Yay! Next week we look forward to cutting into the concrete where the trench drain is to go, digging a big hole for the additional septic tank, and laying out plumbing and electrical pathways with Ken Stilwell and Mark Porteous. I’m feeling really confident in the folks I’ve been in touch with regarding all of the subcontracting work that needs to be done (I think it helps that there’s beer involved…they all seem so motivated).

Additionally, my kettle has been successfully changed over from natural gas to LP by BC (of BC Mechanical fame). This turned out to be a bigger project than anticipated, but in the end came out great. The kettle will make it’s way over to Jeff Frink at Bend Machine on Monday for work on the legs and outlet. Jeff is also going to be fabricating my tanks and brewery odds & ends starting next week as well.

I am filling the first oak barrel with the R&D brews I conducted on my home brew system. 11 different batches (all variations of Sahalie The Great) to be blended and put into one of the barrels I received as a going-away present from Deschutes Brewery. During construction, this barrel will reside in my neighbor Terry Skjeersa’s garage! I’m looking forward to increasing complexity with another geographic location I suppose. This beer will reside in the barrel for at least a year, but perhaps much longer as all of the involved yeast strains and bacteria work their magic. Here’s a photo of the lucky barrel signed by many good people from DB.Also, we’re making headway on the label (with graphic designer Sara Fish in Seattle) and web page (with Nate and Ben of Accomplice Creative here in Bend), plus another bottling trial with the bottle type and corks that we’ve selected. All in all, it feels as if we are finally launching this giant boat into the wind. “It is the set of sails, not the direction of the wind that determines which way we go.” Words from Jim Rohn that echo my conviction…At every turn in this project, we’ve been confronted with comments like, “No, you can’t do that.” “That’s not how everyone else does it.” “Why would you want to do it that way?”

6 responses to “Projectory!”

Okay, I don’t think my original message went through. I’ll try to remember what I wrote. Congratuations, Paul, on making your dream come true. Your patience, persistence through all the paperwork and permits have helped your success. Your grandma Pauline (the best beer drinker in the family) would be very proud of you, too. And her brother, Uncle Chuck, who always had a beer-making project in his basement, would agree! You’ve inherited the “beer” genes from them! Hope to see your “laboratory” soon. Love, Marsha

“No, you can’t do that.” ”That’s not how everyone else does it.” “Why would you want to do it that way?”

Simply because something has worked for others does not make it right. Without change and innovation where would we be? That is why the persistent succeed because they go on to do what they believe in, not simply be content with what others have done before them. Charge forward!

Nice work dude. Both on the permit and the post. I didn’t know you were actually converting your garage to a brewery. Well, of course I did, but I was thinking more of an elaborate home brew system. But trench drains, custom tanks, kettle conversions, septic systems. Much bigger than I thought. Again, nice work. Can’t wait to check it all out, give you a hug, and get some free beer.
John

FYI: The barrel was filled on 9/16! All went well, especially when I took a break from transferring beer to take my son, Spencer, down to the river to remove him from his sister, if you know what I mean. While we were throwing pinecones into the stream, I noticed that the black currants were loaded with fruit. So much of it that we got our neighbor kids to help, and along with Staci, Sahalie, and Spencer, we ended up with enough to add to the barrel, which I did after cleaning them up a bit. See you in a year, beer!